Reel for clotheslines and the like



Oct. 3, 19 39. E. LATOCHA 2,174,828

REEL FOR CLOTHESLINES AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 29, 1937 INVENTOR.

Egene Lafocha WA'iTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 3, 1939 UNi'l s PTENT orFicE 1 Claim.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a reel which will securelyhold the line thereon and which will prevent said line from beingunrolled from the reel under its own weight. Specifically, my purpose isto provide a means which will make it possible to frictionally controlthe movement of said line in or out. The need of such a device has, Ibelieve, been long felt. When ordinary reels, having no such a checkingdevice were used, it would happen quite often that the clotheslineattached at one end to a stationary object would, under its own weight,unreel itself, fall to the ground and get soiled. Such an accident isprevented when the reel of my construction is used.

I attain my object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of my reel provided with the checkingfrictional device.

Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the same.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The heel is in a conventional form and comprises a suitable housing anda rotatable spool inside thereof. The housing consists of two sideflanges H and i2 and the enveloping wall extending between said flangesand forming a flattened top M, a flattened bottom l5 and a curved rearwall extending between said top it and bottom I 5. The front of thehousing is open in order to admit the clothesline into or out of thereel. A spool l3, comprising a cylindrical body I1 and flanges i8 andi9, is rotatably mounted within the said housing in such a manner thatthe flanges of the housing and the flanges of the spool are coaxiallyaligned. The spool is actuated by a crank 23, provided with a handle 2!.One of the spool flanges I8 is provided with a series of perforationsii], marginally located on the rim of said flange. The outside flange IIof the housing, abutting said inside flange I8, carries a spring member22 secured at 23 to the outside flange H and provided with a pin 24.Said. pin 24 is adapted to be depressed through an opening 25 intheflange I! so that when so depressed it projects into one of theperforations on the flange it, thus stopping the rotary movement of thespool i6. 26 indicates the clothesline normally wound upon said spool.In being drawn out from the reel, said clothesline 26 passes through,what I call, the feeder 21.

The construction of said feeder is shown in Fig. 2. It is a deviceoblong in shape, box-like in structure and may be made of wood or metal.

It comprises two parallel walls 28 and 29, oblong in shape and spacedapart by two narrow side members 30 and 3|, disposed in parallel, and amember 34 connecting the ends of the two members 3B and 3! disposed atright angle thereto, and closing one end of said feeder. The oppositeside thereof is left open. A passage for the line in said member 34 ismarked 42. The feeder embodies a friction spring 33 anchored at one endto the member 3! and directly beneath the spring 33 there is provided arolier 43 suitably mounted on a pin l i fixed in the walls 28 and 29.The clothesline 26 is passed between the roller and spring member 33, asclearly shown in Fig. 2. A thumb screw 35 is threadedly engaged throughthe member 3i, the inner end bearing upon the spring 33 directly overthe roller 43. By this arrangement most of the friction needed tocontact the line is supplied by the spring 33, the roller providing buta minor portion thereof. The frictional contact of the spring 33 may bevaried through adjustment of the thumb screw 35. Obviously, the roller43 may be supplanted by a stationary post or block, the spring 33 00-operating therewith in a similar manner. At one end of said feeder, thewalls 28 and 29 thereof are provided with eyelets 31 and 38,respectively, in order that the feeder may be mounted slidably on rod39, extending between flanges H and I2 of the housing of the reel.

Normally, the clothesline is coiled on spool [6, as shown in Fig. 1. Thefree end of the line passes through the feeder and. is frictionallyengaged by the spring 33. In operating the reel, the person handling itmay attach the free end of the clothesline to a post, or to some otherstationary object, and then receding from said post and holding the reelmay allow the clothesline to unroll itself from said reel. The unrolledline passes through the feeder and is frictionally engaged by the spring33. This frictional engagement is sufficient to stop the unrolling ofthe line under the weight of that portion of the line that had alreadybeen unwound from the reel, but is not suiflcient to stop the line frombeing unrolled under the direct pull exerted by the person holding thereel and receding with it from the point to which the free end of theline is attached. Ordinarily, without the aid of this feeder, theclothesline already paid out would, by its own weight, tend to unrollthe remaining line on the spool and very likely fall to the ground,unless in some way checked manually by the person operating said reel.When it is necessary to wind the line back upon the reel,

the person using said reel may do so with the aid of the crank 20actuating the spool I6. The

line, being withdrawn into the reel, passes again through said feeder,and should the person operating said crank remove his or her hand fromsaid crank, the line would not be allowed to fall to the ground, sinceit would be restrained by its frictional engagement with the spring insaid feeder.

An additional device to check the movement of the line is provided inthe device on the outside flange II of the housing. In this instance thespring member 23 may be actuated by the superimposed lever 40 pivoted at4|, in order that the pin 24 may enter into one of the perforations I0on the apertured flange l8 and thus stop the rotation of the spool Hi.When the lever is shifted back to its normal position, as shown in Fig.1, spring 23 automatically withdraws the pin 24 from the aperture in theflange and the spool is free to be rotated by the person operating it.

I realize that the novelty of my invention lies only in the constructionof my said checking device called the feeder and in the combination ofsaid checking device with the conventional reel. Other changes arepossible without departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

A device to control the movement of the line from a reel, operatively inconjunction therewith and comprising a separate housing, a semiellipticspring member engaging said line from one side and a roller engagingsaid line from the other side, said spring member being curved so as topresent increasingly frictional surface against the line passing ineither direction, and screw means bearing against the face of the leafspring at the point opposite to that in contact with the line to adjustthe amount of friction.

EUGENE LATOCHA.

